The World Seen Without Filters

[amileegirl]

The more I read on cafemom the more I am apalled at the narrowmindedness of individuals who can only see the world around them through the narrowest of lenses.   I'd like to remind these people that first and foremost you are a human being -- everything else is a societal construct that has been learned and it is YOU who decides how far you take that learning.

I do not care if a person is male or female, or what their ethnicity is.   I do not care what religon, spiritual path, or deity-free path of life they follow.  I do not care who they live with, who they love, or how they hang their toilet paper.

I evaluate individuals by their behavior as social human beings.

If someone takes pride in their ethnicity good for them, pride in ones history is not a bad thing.   I instead watch for their behavior not the color of their skin or the language they speak.     I want to know just how far do they take that pride?    Do they look down on others from other ethnicities?   Do they define themselves only by this one aspect at the exclusion or near exclusion of all else?     Are they colorblind or colorblinded -- that's what I want to know.

If someone takes pride in their personal religous practices, I've no quarrel.    I instead watch for actions they take when interacting with others.   Is their path the only thing they can speak about?   Is it their mission in life to tell everyone else how wrong they are and what dire things will happen to them if they don't conform?    Are they exclusionary, suspicious, and prone to promoting false information?     Spirtual or spiteful -- that's the important thing.

If someone has gone against a societal "norm" of the heterosexual nuclear relationship, I've no interest.   Polygamy or monogomy.   Polyandry or polygyny.   Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual.   Goodness and loyalty are not defined by these things.       I want to know if they break for squirrels, help shovel their neighbors driveway, obey traffic laws, and have genuine smiles of hello.   Friend or foe -- everything else is irrelevant.

Things are only relevant in their appropriate context.   If I am looking for a friend I look for friendliness, reliableness, loyalty, an a genuine willingess to communicate and be helpful when it is needed.   If I am looking for an accountant I ask what their accounting credentials are.   If I seek a dentist, I ask appropriate questions and evaluate their performance.    How well does an author write?     How well and with how much honesty does a CEO conduct business?       As for ethnicity, that only comes into play if I want to know something very specific about that culture or uniqic ethinic flavor.  For instance, if I want to know if an asian or indian restaurant is authentic -- I look at the make up of the diners -- who is eating there?    If I truly want to know the ways of Buddhism beyond the pages of the book, it would make sense to speak to a Buddhist or former Buddhist.

Humans should take a lesson from the animals they tend to exploit and dismiss as "poor dumb animals".    A dog is a dog is a dog.   Long hair, short hair, wire hair, hairless, corded.   Toy, small, medium, large, extra enormous.   Pug face, wolf face, medium face,   Long legged, short legged, Dachsund legged.   Bark, yodel, or silent.   Tailed and tailess.   Black, white, brown, red, gold, brindle, spotted, splotched.    Trained and untrained.   Domestic, wild, ferral.      A dog recognizes another dog and cares not for any of the physical features.  A dog sees unfiltered.  If you smell like a dog, you are a dog.   You are expected to act like a dog regardless of any training to fetch or walk on two legs.   Even if you are sick, dying, or aggressive you are recognized instantly.  

People who put themselves in one camp and other people in another (for whatever reason)  have not learned the lessons of history of what happens when you do that, even if you think you are justified in doing so.  Us vs Them dehumanizes "them" and makes it easier to do things contrary to how a human being would be treated.   It is the thing the drives slavery, sexism, tribal war, ethnic cleansing, holocausts, genocide, small pox infected blankets, witchhunts, book burnings, pillaging, scalping, stealing under the guise of reposession, crusades, inquisitions, and destruction of entire cultures.

People need to think about what happens when it is they who are "them" and what could happen when there is no one to defend them against it.    How would they liked to be judged, packaged, and categorized solely on someone else's interpretation of them?  How would like to be judged only on one aspect of their lives -- how they dress, how they speak, what food they eat, or how they wear their hair?   You are not granted immunity,  you are not unique, you are just like everyone else.  A human is a human is a human.

Live and let live doesn't cover it people.

Live and learn something why don't you.

[__Jayne__]

Jul. 14, 2009 at 1:16 AM

Beautifully put.